Filtering photos, posting happy moments: Time to get real
Authenticity has never been the norm, in our day or in Bible days. Oh, we say we like it when people are “real,” but we tend to promote less-than-truthful versions of ourselves.
We share selectively by filtering Insta pictures, embellishing resumes, and posting only our happy moments. We admire celebrities based on their carefully crafted public personas and invest in plastic surgery to look a little more like them. We hide our weaknesses and our fear of the future, along with the arguments we have in the car on the way to dinner—often a car that’s leased and above our pay grade. We float the balance on our credit card to next month (and the next and the next) to buy more stuff we can’t afford, in order to feel prettier, more important and more fulfilled than we actually are. And we pat ourselves on the back for being “good,” while ignoring our heart’s glaring lack of goodness; which means we’re often not even real with ourselves.
Aside from the technology that aids and abets our inauthenticity, the pressures and priorities in Jesus’ day were the same. Many in the religious ruling class were confident in their traditions and in themselves, proud even, which included looking down on the less fortunate. On the other hand, those who were less-than-impressive worked hard to measure up. So, whether people were working to maintain their good status or earn it for the first time, the same striving and posing and wishing and hiding that exists today existed then.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Enter Messiah.
Jesus didn’t choose His followers based on their appearance, accomplishments, ability, or influence in the community. In fact, the disciples’ monetary lack and social lowliness made it more difficult for them to hide their true selves—desperation has a way of doing that. And so, their lack was the very thing that made them more available to Jesus. In the same way, lack of lack kept others from Him. In other words, many people kept their distance from Jesus because they didn’t see their need for Him. They were convinced of their own ability; they believed their own press. So, their inauthenticity about their struggles, their sin, and their weaknesses kept them from recognizing that Jesus was the remedy to what they didn’t even acknowledge was wrong.
And here’s the point:
Inauthenticity keeps us from the One we need most, because come-to-Jesus moments are purely honest moments. They are the moments we realize we’re not enough, and that the world along with all its approval can’t fix what ails. Relationship with Jesus begins when we acknowledge—to ourselves and everyone else—what’s true; that we are desperate sinners in need of a Savior. And when we do, Jesus begins His work of redemption, which slowly but absolutely transforms us into the beautiful souls He created us to be.
And Jesus [said], “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:31-32
Inspired by the TV drama series THE CHOSEN. Learn more at thechosendevotional.com.
